Federal government departments and agencies are required to
conduct a neutral assessment of their evaluation function once every five years under the Treasury Board Secretariat’s Policy on Evaluation (2009). This article describes the National Research Council’s experience conducting the first neutral assessment of its evaluation function. Based on learning from this first assessment, best practices that NRC intends on replicating, as well as lessons learned for future assessments, are discussed. This article may be of interest to both federal and non-federal organizations seeking to conduct a neutral assessment in an effort to improve their evaluation services and products.